MessageToEagle.com – Archaeologists create the most accurate version yet of the huge Stratford-upon-Avon house, William Shakespeare bought in 1597 for £120 – six times the annual salary of a Stratford schoolteacher at the time.
Archaeologists have uncovered an oven-style fire hearth, a cold storage pit used as a fridge and fragments of plates, cups and cookware at New Place, in Stratford-upon-Avon, where he lived for 19 years of his adult life.
“Once we had uncovered the family’s oven we were able to understand how the rest of the house fitted around it,” says Dr Paul Edmondson, the Head of Research and Knowledge for the trust, which is carrying out a £5.25 million project to open the house to the public next year.
© K Colls / W Mitchell, Staffordshire University, Centre of Archaeology
“The discovery of the cooking areas, brew house, pantry and cold storage pit, combined with the scale of the house, all point to New Place as a working home as well as a house of high social status.
“A much richer picture of Shakespeare has emerged through the course of our excavations. At New Place we can catch glimpses of Shakespeare the playwright and country-town gentleman.
“His main task was to write and a house as impressive as New Place would have played an important part in the rhythm of his working life.”
The largest single residence in the borough, Shakespeare’s home for two decades had an imposing frontage, more than 20 rooms, ten fireplaces and a Great Chamber and Gallery. But experts say it has felt like a “missing piece” in Shakespeare’s story, ‘ writes Culture 24.
“The trust knows just how powerful this site is, not just because of what will be seen above the ground, but also because of the history which lies underneath – layers of earth and foundations which have been untouched for hundreds of years,” says Julie Crawshaw, the manager of a project which has also uncovered medieval foundations and Iron Age archaeology.
“Meticulous work is not fast work, and we have had to reconfigure our original plans to accommodate the rich findings in previously unexplored ground.
“This has resulted in an unavoidable delay in starting groundworks, which will have a knock-on effect on our original schedule, particularly as we will now be building through the winter weather.
“It is thanks to the passion and skill of our team of designers, architects, engineers and conservation specialists that we are on track to open in summer 2016.”
Facsimiles of the cookware will be available for visitors to handle in the neighbouring Nash’s House, a Grade I-listed Tudor building where specially-commissioned artworks and accompanying exhibitions will be displayed.
A number of stone foundations were found under the courtyard of Nash’s House, which represented a number of features.
Beneath the current boundary wall that is on the site, foundations of an earlier boundary wall were found – perhaps dating to the 16th or 17th Century.
Stone foundations of industrial or domestic structures were also discovered.
These courtyards to the rear of properties such as this would have been the location for a number of activities which would have kept the household going, such as stone and brick tanks to store liquids and water, outside toilets and cess tanks for waste.
Deeper excavations were undertaken in the areas around these remains. The archaeological team found layers, features and finds dating to the prehistoric period, mainly the Iron Age.
This also is very important as evidence from this period from inside the town is rare.
The structure on the left is a fireplace within the Service Range of New Place. The two walls would have supported an oven. The stones here are blackened by fire.
To the right of the picture is a stone-lined pit that was situated beneath floor level. The stone would have kept the small chamber cool for the storage of perishable food-stuffs, such as cheese.
The finds are both part of the medieval foundations of New Place, which was built in 1483 by the Clopton family.
The Chapel Street ‘gatehouse range’ is resplendent with its jettied end gables and richly decorated projecting widow and roof dormers to illuminate the long gallery – improvements attributed to Shakespeare’s tenure.
Towards the rear of the courtyard is the ‘Great Chamber’ range, installed by the original builder of New Place, Hugh Clopton, in 1485, and later enhanced by Shakespeare.
Clopton’s grand west-facing bay window and roof smoke louvre form part of this original open hall design. The large corner chimney stack was added post 1597 by the Shakespeares, improving their comfort further.
Clopton’s original grand 1485 ‘Open Hall’ shows how the Great Chamber cross-wing cuts through and joins on to the range on the left. The hall’s timber frame structure sits on a brick footing with a stone plinth and is expensively in-filled with red brick.
The external single storey cookhouse is separated from the main building for fire safety. The adjacent double timber gates lead on to Chapel Lane, providing an equestrian entrance to the grounds and stables.
The rear of the 1597 modernised gatehouse range is visible across the grassy courtyard with its central passage accessing the ground-floor servants’ quarters, and its stairs leading up to the first floor Long Gallery.
The Guild Chapel and what became the Falcon hotel (which only had two storeys in Shakespeare’s time) form a backdrop with what became Thomas Nash’s house, visible to the right adjoining the boundary wall.
For more info – visit Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
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source: Culture24